It’s not very fashionable le to imagine there is a lot of good in the world. It never has been. From Plato through to Shakespeare the lamentations have been about our own failure to perform our highest good. We hold our back hand against our forehead and cry “I try! God knows I try! But […]
Author Archives: lisathatcher
as is – Monica Brooks and Laura Altman push sound around a room.
posted by lisathatcher
as is is another stunning little gem from the prophetically titled It’ll be awesome label. This time we have Monica Brooks and Laura Altman playing accordion and clarinet respectively. Five tracks, each pressing the instruments as far as they can go with the shrieks of the clarinet posited in perfect balance against the dark wind-infused accordion each track […]
Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir (Antenna Documentary Film Festival)
posted by lisathatcher
I spent a delightful 62 minutes with Sigrídur Níelsdóttir a woman dubbed Grandma Lo-Fi at the Sydney documentary film festival recently. This is a gorgeous documentary about an enormously charming woman, who also happens to be – as she describes herself – filled with music. At the age of 70, Sigrídur Níelsdóttir decided to start her recording […]
Wedding Ceremony – experiencing sound detached from its source.
posted by lisathatcher
Wedding Ceremony Lucio Capece/Julia Eckhardt/Christian Kesten/Radu Malfatti/Toshimaru Nakamura/Taku Sugimoto Cathnor Wedding Ceremony is a collection of performances primarily relating to the positioning of sound within a room. Each of the five pieces were recorded live, apparently culled from two sets in Belgium, May 2007. Art is primarily a social experience a relationship between giving voice to something and being […]
How to read Lacan: Zizek on Lacan – Part 4. Troubles with the Real: Lacan as a Viewer of Alien. (pt Two)
posted by lisathatcher
This is a post based on Slavoj Zizek’s little booklet How to read Lacan. For the previous post to this one, go here. This is not my writing – this is my attempt to condense sections of the book so we can understand them together. For the first in the series, go here. It is important […]
The American Soldier – Fassbinder does Godard
posted by lisathatcher
It can be difficult with Fassbinder films over and over again. I’ve said on this blog in the past that he is one of my favourite directors and yet I can only take him in certain doses. If I were locked on an island with nothing but a screen and Godard films I’d think I’d […]
Pierrot le Fou – Godard and the ecstasy of words.
posted by lisathatcher
One of the lines in Pierrot le Fou (Pierre the fool or Crazy Pete) is a quote or at least an echo from Rimbaud, Une Saison en enfer – A season in hell. This is one of many art references in this film, but possibly sums up this intense period of film making for Godard. […]
Savage in Limbo – John Patrick Shanley and Workhorse Theatre company ask should I stay or should I go?
posted by lisathatcher
In the world of Plato’s cave, truth is an elusive and frightening thing. Because it finds us, we are in a perpetual dance with it – a dance of desire, awareness, shock and avoidance. This pattern plays itself out within us unless we decide to embrace our own truth and risk the accompanying fear and move forward […]
The Knowledge – Pantsguys and John Donnelly reveal a tougher side of life.
posted by lisathatcher
John Donnelly has worked in various primary and secondary schools across London, Essex and Kent, including programmes aimed at curriculum development, Irish and Romany Travellers, enterprise, literacy, sex education, addictions, student voice. In an interview for The Guardian, he says: “I’ve mostly worked in schools in Kent and Essex, where there has been a huge […]
To Rome with Love – Woody Allen and the whistle-stop tour does Italy
posted by lisathatcher
Is it my imagination, or has Woody Allen finally grown up? Vicky Christina Barcelona teeterd on the past and the future for him, Midnight in Paris was a refreshing look at a great director, not back in form, but using his wit and wisdom to create something fresh, and now with To Rome with Love we have […]
Lisa Thatcher 